Intelligence/ Dangerous spy game under Russian flag

The CIA officers slipped in and out of the courtroom behind the cover of a retractable gray screen and testified using only their first names and last initials. They described clandestine meetings, suitcases full of cash and an obstinate Russian engineer who they hoped would help them derail Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

In a federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va., prosecutors are trying to prove that an ex-CIA officer with an ax to grind gave sensitive national defense information to a reporter. But to make their case — and discourage other would-be leakers — they have to parade his former colleagues and secret sources into semi-open court, and talk about covert methods and missions.

The trial of Jeffrey Sterling, whose fate jurors are set to begin deliberating on Thursday, has offered a daily spectacle worthy of fiction. It has also shown the challenge of prosecuting leakers: To win a conviction, prosecutors have to reveal things the government never wanted out in the open.

The Catch-22 of federal leak cases